We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kaho Tokiwa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaho, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to hear about is stories around the nicest thing someone has done for someone else – what’s the nicest thing someone has ever done for you?

What immediately came to mind was when we evacuated from the LA wildfires.
I’m really grateful to the one family in Torrance for saving me in their home for a few days.

I have been studying abroad in LA since the end of last April to learn dance and English.

In this January, I had lived in Hollywood during this wildfires.
“I can see the mountains burning from our house!”
This words from my roommate woke me up from a nap.
It was the fire of Hollywood Hills.

Wildfires are not uncommon in LA, but rare in Japan.
This was my first experience in my life and I shocked and panicked, so I packed up a little baggage and moved to the east area in a hurry.

Although there was no fire directly around the house, I remember the noise of helicopters, sirens, and horns was too loud that it was difficult to stay sane by myself.

In the anxiety of not knowing when, where, and with whom I would get through this night, I contacted as many people as I could think of.
Fortunately, my father, who lives in Japan, introduced me to an acquaintance who lived in Torrance, which is less affected by the wildfires.

They picked me up downtown and evacuated me to their home in Torrance. I received all kinds of support, including dinner, showers, and internet.
Thanks to that, I spent my time in a calm environment physically and mentally.

Although it was my first time meeting them, they gave me peace of mind truly.
Being able to spend time in a place far away from wildfires and have life-sized conversations without worrying.
I can’t find the enough words to explain how much it saved me when I felt anxious and lonely in a land where I had no one to rely on.

In addition, they shared me a lot of meals.
When we cook for someone, we’re trying to keep them alive.
That someone other than me was trying to keep me alive.
It’s not really natural.

Once you meet someone, you can’t go back to where you were before you met them, and you can’t imagine your life without them.
I never thought I would encounter a wildfire, but now I can’t imagine my life without this experience.
It’s one of the most important memories of my life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I currently live in LA and am studying English and dance.
In Japan, I have worked in various jobs including choreographer, instructor, and event organizer etc.

My career started when I was 7 years old, joining the dance team of my local professional basketball team.
Amazingly, within six months of starting dancing, I passed the open audition and became the youngest member of a professional dance team.

After being a member of that team for several years, I lived in my hometown while traveling to other prefectures and was involved in Michael Jackson Tribute Live, POCARI SWEAT commercials, and various concerts (DREAMS COME TRUE, AI, Shonan no Kaze, Hilcrhyme etc).

In 2017, I moved to Tokyo to enter the Faculty of Law at Aoyama Gakuin University.While a university student, I expanded my career by exhibiting works in collaboration with L’Oréal Paris.Also, I won the award of CROWD FAVORITE in World of Dance World Final 2019 as a member of ASIAN WAACKING SENSATION.
Also, I won the Audience Award out of about 90 works at an exhibition.
At the time, voting systems using SNS became popular, and seeing so many people supporting the work and us choreographers gave us confidence.

During the COVID pandemic, there was almost no dance work, but I worked on online classes and video project.

After graduating from university, I got a job at a health company during the COVID pandemic and worked as a stretch trainer or a operator.
While working for the company, I continued to work as a dancer, and it was the experience I needed to confirm what I wanted to do with my life.

As a memorable work, I remember the competition between universities. I led a group of about 120 people and passed the first place in the preliminaries to advance to the finals. Also, when it comes to holding events, I held a dance event in Tokyo with my friends that attracted 170 people. The miracle of being able to share a fun and safe space with everyone, filled with gratitude for dance and friends who have enriched my dancing, always encourages me.

I am certain of two things from my experiences.

First, we continued to make results, regardless of the adverse circumstances.
I have faced many challenges, including my career, where I live, my studies, and the COVID, but none of them have been enough to hinder me.
No matter what the situation, I have always delivered results without giving up.

The other thing is that we have gotten the trust of many people.
It is true that many people believed in me and took action because of my consistent performance.I am grateful to everyone who supports me.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There is a clear answer to that question.
It is the moment when you can bring out someone’s “Fun!”

Today, dance has become an industry and a social networking tool. We don’t hear much talk about expanding the dance population anymore. Smartphones have made people dance more and more.

But the true meaning of dance is self-liberation.
The letters and words we use in our daily communication are signals to communicate something to the other person, not an expression of who we are in essence.
They are only signs that we share with others.
And the feelings and sensations within us lose their resolution while we convert them into signs.
When you put into words the one and only thing in the world that was in your mind, to anyone else, it turns into something cheap that everyone can feel generally.

Something that allows you to express what you are feeling, happy, sad, etc., without any filter. One of those things is dance.
Dance is not a hobby, it is not a job, it is self-expression, it is life.
That is why I want dance to always be something that makes my life easier, not something that compares me to anyone else.

That is why I find it most rewarding to convey the essential fascination of dance to someone I meet through dance, and to help them enjoy life as much as possible.

The moment when students start high-fiving each other during a dance lesson, even though I didn’t say anything to them, and they say, “This is fun!”.
I was really happy when they started high-fiving each other during the dance class.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

That is, there are many moments when the person in question wants to disappear, even if the result or work is praised by many.

Last year I worked on my first video project. I choreographed it, and with the help of about 20 friends, we were able to get a lot of people to see it.
It was a great experience, with friends contacting me for the first time in years and LA teachers commenting on it.

When I released the video, the joy and excitement of having my work known was only a small part of it; most of my heart wanted to disappear.

It was not so much that I had a lot to reflect on about the work, but more so that the work was leaving me for other places than I was, and my energy and soul were leaving me as well.
As the saying goes, I felt devastated.

As I have said before, dance is my life and the work is part of me.
I do not want to hold the work as only mine, but I felt a sense of loss.

I believe that in the world of entertainment, there is always a giver and a receiver, and that power can be exchanged but never amplified.
When you perform and you are the giver, it is like giving your life energy to the other person.
No matter how much praise the other person gives you, it does nothing to encourage you.
To create something from yourself is, in a sense, to give yourself to the recipient.

That is why people engaged in entertainment are often mentally unstable, even if their job is what they love
I want to tell you that being a creator and a healthy person are not able to live together.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://chibikaho.jp/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYeiNuDyhv7XSWn1mfOkBTJ3-OZwO72NYm5crZ1KxHopF0drJMkiBLxfV0_aem_hwkNJbHhSjC18AJncKKkgQ
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chibikaho/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chibikaho_waackaho
• Other: https://youtu.be/EKZ4Mz0ocyo?si=AjgwS_YukRMjzrSj